Memories: THE Teacher

Describe your teachers at school.

I always had something like a dream of what teachers should be like. I loved the idea of a teacher that you could come to with any problem or concern, thought or good news. I was and am a people pleaser, so as a young child I tried extra hard to get the teacher's favor. Looking back, I'm sure I was a little obnoxious just because of my do-good ways. Once I hit middle school, I wanted that same amount of attention and but it had to be masked. I didn't want everyone around me to get the wrong idea of me and assume that I liked the teacher.

Sadly, my desires were not meant to be met. Most of my teachers had lost their passion along the way and therefore did not inspire me in the least. I continued doing the best I could in every single class but rarely actually enjoyed the subject at hand. At the time, I assumed that it was my own fault, that while everyone else seemed to be learning and loving different classes, it was my own problem that I didn't. I've since realized that my teachers were dull and didn't care about what they were teaching. Other people naturally liked these classes (think history or art) so it didn't matter how the teacher was.

I spent years hating history classes. I enjoyed English classes because I liked grammar and writing even though I didn't want to admit it at the time. I hated science though. Oh man, I did not have good science teachers.

Then there was music. Music is my thing, if you didn't know. I tried in my younger years to not let it define me, but it was meant to be and I could not avoid it. My mom is a music teacher and was determined to have musical children. She really hit the jackpot with both my sister and myself because we have taken and run with it more than she probably would have expected or hoped for when we were just little babes. It's in our blood, but it was our environment too. We couldn't have escaped it if we tried.

 To emphasize my destiny, the only teachers I seemed to enjoy and connect with happened to be the music teachers. I look back at them fondly and love getting the chance to see them to this day. I would go to their offices, joke around, pour my heart out, discuss the day, and just get to know them as well while they got to know me. It continued on from high school into college, and now that I am an adult, I consider them my friends.

I didn't get to have THE teacher, the one that I love so dearly and will always remember with exaggerated greatness. Instead, I get to have a handful. They all shared something with me that to this day is still at the top of my list (what list, I'm not sure...THE list). The great thing about music is that it cannot be outgrown. We'll always have that connection. Maybe that is why they have always meant so much to me. Either way, I'll always be thankful for that part of my education in the small little town where I grew up. After all, it IS my thing.

This is the picture I use for my piano studio flyers, taken by my friend Lacey. Fun, isn't it?

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